Publications

The only FDA approved heparin antidote is protamine, but it has many limitations. In a recent paper, Dr. Kalathottukaren and team discuss how the rational design of UHRA makes it a better antidote to heparins compared to protamine.

Dr. Kastrup, a scientist in UBC’s Michael Smith Laboratories and the Centre for Blood Research, has developed a potential strategy for making the coagulation process more resilient. If it’s proven to work in clinical situations, “superplatelets” might become a standard part of emergency department supplies, along with bandages, oxygen, and saline.

When bacteria are starved or stressed, they can become resistant to antibiotics. In Frontiers in Microbiology, members of the Hancock lab explored the importance of a specific stress response and its mechanism in infection.

Inflammation is an important component of our body’s defence system, but excessive or inappropriate inflammation is the main cause behind many human diseases. In a recent publication, Bing Catherine Wu and Amy Lee of the Hancock Lab identify a new potential anti-inflammatory therapy: Innate Defence Regulator (IDR) peptides.

There is an urgent need for curative therapies to treat kidney failure. The laboratories of Dr. Kelly M. McNagny and Dr. Benjamin S. Freedman have demonstrated that human kidney organoids grown in a culture dish can accurately model kidney development and disease. This technology is promising for expediting future kidney research.

Thanks to their dramatic lifesaving effects, blood transfusions have become commonplace in modern medicine. However, do transfusions actually improve patient outcomes under the existing standards and procedures?

The most common cause of having to discard units of platelets is the short storage life of platelet concentrates. Researchers have proposed an alternative storage condition for platelets in the hopes of extending platelet shelf life.

Researchers in the Bromme lab demonstrated the anti bone-resorptive activity of a compound found in traditional Chinese medicine. This may be promising for the treatment of bone deteriorating conditions.

Doctors and healthcare professionals have long urged patients to always finish a course of antibiotics to prevent the development of antibiotic resistance, but is this protocol still warranted? Researchers have discovered that over-use of antibiotics can have negative effects.